Why?

Why can I taste the herbal teas I have been drinking whilst under the flu influence,but I cannot taste any of my food - or coffee?

Competition time!!

I've just spent 8 weeks in Africa, so you'd think i would have some good photos of animals and plants? Well, let's start with some technically poor pickies, but this one was a beautiful creature - does anyone now what it is? It jumped onto my finger as I walked past a wonderful hedge of flowering dark blue ipomoeas.




If that one is the beauty, here is a beast - found in the swimming pool at Fawlty Towers in Livingstone!

So, what would you call them?






Oh, and here's another beauty who joined us for dinner at Ngepi camp in the Caprivi Strip in Namibia. Fantastic outfit!


That has got to lead onto the wonderful bathrooms in that camp.

Bugs. Flu bugs.

Where do these bugs lurk and attack from? I have been nowhere near anyone with flu for two weeks, then it hits me with a vengeance. I suppose that I am losing my immunity to the germs now that I no longer teach, but there was no need for this little attack!
If you look at the website http://www.cdc.gov/germstopper/ it is full of common sense and warns that the germs can survive for 48 hours outside the body. So, I have the possibility of two days in which to search for the generous culprit!!
But at least I didn't have to drag my self up to look after young children, so I could be full of pity without anyone being too aware, except my family who I kept ringing to tell them that I was still alive!!

I must own up to watching daytime television too.... there are more rhinos in The Marquess of Bath's front garden than I saw in Etosha. But it was much warmer there!! And yes, I will start to post some photos.

Things have changed!!

You go away and they change everything behind your back!! However, after much crunching of the grey matter I have worked out my google account and so got back into the site. Phew!!

Well, eight weeks in Afrcia was fantastic fun and I really wanted to stay longer... however, reality has to hit home at some stage. So, it is back to the fairly cold weather here in the UK, to find out what has happened while I've been away.

The lovely old walnut tree was blown down in the gales, luckily without causing too much trouble. It fell on my neighbour's house but was removed with only two slates being broken. The wall however, is another matter - that will need substantial rebuilding. Ted is quite a happy man though, as he has been eyeing up that tree for his wood turning ever since he moved in. I shall miss the setting sun shining on the bark, it really was a lovely tree.

The snowdrops and crocuses are just flowering together with the winter honeysuckle - it is lovely to have something blooming after seeing so many lovely plants on holiday. I shall have to really work hard at the garden this year to get it sorted and producing some food in the veg garden. Now the walnut has gone, there will be far more light on that patch, so the veg should do better. I shall need to mount a slug hunting venture each night - perhaps this could be my new keep fit regime? (The food was excellent so I have put on lots of weight, I really should learn to stop eating when I have had enough.)

When I asked Livvy what had happened whilst I was away, she found it difficult to think of anything so I shall do a little trawl of the BBC news site and see what else has changed. Oooh, I know what has happened - Lynne has started to blog again!!